Pentagon Spies to Work More Closely With CIA

WASHINGTON — The Pentagon is rebranding and reorganizing its clandestine spy shop, sending more of its case officers to work alongside CIA officers to gather intelligence in places like China, instead of war zones as they have for the past decade.

A senior defense official says several hundred case officers will make up the new Defense Clandestine Service.

Defense Department spies already gather intelligence globally on everything from terrorism to weapons of mass destruction, mostly working out of CIA stations in embassies.

But the Defense Intelligence Agency did not always reward that experience with promotions, so its officers often left for the CIA, a senior defense official explained. The official spoke anonymously because he was not authorized to speak publicly about the classified program. The new service is meant to change that.